A visiting judge has rejected a claim that a Stark County judge broke the law when he ordered a defendant to pay $5,000 to a charitable fund tied to a school massacre in Connecticut.

Louis Demis of Columbus filed a complaint accusing Stark County Common Pleas Judge Frank Forchione of depriving the county of public funds when Forchione ordered a defendant to pay $5,000 to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.

A hearing on the issue was held Tuesday morning in Canton Municipal Court.

Michael McNulty, a retired Barberton Municipal Court judge, handled the case. Craig Morgan, of the Akron prosecutor’s office, served as special prosecutor.

The facts of the case were not in dispute, McNulty noted in his one-and-a-half page ruling. But “it is clear that there was no criminal intent on the part of Judge Forchione. Further it is doubtful that the $5,000 check in question was ever the property of Stark County, Ohio.”

Demis did not attend the hearing. Attorney Craig Conley, who is representing him, said he could not reach Demis Tuesday morning and did not know why he was not present.

“As a judge you always try to do the right thing,” Forchione said. “Always knowing there will be a person who disagrees with you. ... My father always taught me to take the high road — I think the public has a pretty good idea of what’s going on here.”

OTHER CASES

Earlier this year, Conley filed a civil complaint, asking the courts to determine if Forchione had the discretion to order Scott Studer to pay the fine to the charity. Conley was representing Bethlehem Township resident Thomas Marcelli in that case. He wanted Forchione to reimburse the county out of his own pocket.

Prior to the Studer case, Forchione had been the judge in a malpractice lawsuit filed against Conley in 2011.

Conley sought to have that complaint dismissed and later requested that Forchione be removed from hearing it. But the Ohio Supreme Court denied the request in January 2012. In court papers, Conley contended Forchione could not be fair in the matter.

In September 2012, Forchione ordered that the lawsuit be assigned to a visiting judge “due to the recent discovery of an existing conflict of interest.” The court filing did not elaborate.

Forchione declined to comment Tuesday on the case because it is pending.

Conley said “the (malpractice) case has no relevance to this issue whatsoever.”

ARGUMENTS

At Tuesday’s hearing, Conley argued that Forchione broke the law when directing the $5,000 court fine to the Sandy Hook charity, which was set up following the Dec. 14 shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults. The money was later returned to the Stark Clerk of Courts at Forchione’s request.

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Conley cited Ohio court cases to support his claim that Forchione had “the clear intent” to deprive the county of the fine money.

Conley said he will discuss the ruling with Demis and review whether it can be appealed. Demis could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“I think the fact that the (complainant) didn’t even show up let’s you know this is a sham,” Forchione said. “And at some point I think the taxpayers are going to get tired of this waste of money.”

At the hearing, Morgan countered that there’s no evidence that Forchione knowingly tried to keep the money out of the county treasury.

“I found a mistake was made here,” Morgan said. But he said it does not rise to the level of a crime.